In sharp contrast to the overall job market, which according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows the number of job vacancies in November at its lowest in 30 months, there are abundant opportunities in the disability and community care sector.

The increasing demands of an ageing population and a rise in the numbers of individuals accessing disability services are driving a jobs boom in the disability and community care workforce, with thousands of new workers needed across the country in the next five years.

Mike Field, Project Manager, Workforce Recruitment at National Disability Services (NDS) today announced that NDS’s award-winning carecareers web site www.carecareers.com.au will for the first time be making its services available Australia wide. Part of an initiative aimed at promoting the benefits of a career in the sector, the carecareers jobs board has helped thousands of people in NSW to find work.

From 11 February jobseekers and employers in Victoria, Western Australian and the ACT will be able to take advantage of the service, as will jobseekers and employers in Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania from 25 February.

“There has never been a better time to explore a career in the disability and community care sector. Employment is booming, with some estimates that the workforce in the disability sector could double with the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, due to be phased in by 2018,” Mr Field said.

“The sector offers a broad range of career choices, from speech pathologists and occupational therapists to drivers, gardeners and IT professionals. Students and young people, return-to-work parents and career changers will play a vital role in filling job vacancies and providing high-quality support services in the future.”

“A career with a disability or community care provider offers not only a rewarding career, but job security, flexibility and good opportunities for training and career advancement” advised Mr Field.

Potential candidates can go online at www.carecareers.com.au and take a quick picture-based quiz to find out what type of job in the sector would suit them best.

The Background: carecareers
The community care & disability sector is one of the largest, and fastest growing employment categories in Australia. Through a host of not-for-profit, government and private employers, the sector provides services to improve the quality of life for people who need care and support.

The role of carecareers – managed by National Disability Services (NDS) and NSW government funded – is to enable qualified talent to find suitable jobs in the care & disability sector. In this pivotal role, carecareers brings together employers and candidates to help meet the needs of an increasing number of individuals needing care and support.

The Problem: carecareers
carecareers has a critical industry role, in helping to improve the attraction, engagement and retention of talent in the disability sector; of helping employers showcase their offer and value to candidates in the industry; and to support an engaged and sustainable talent pool to meet the current and future hiring needs of industry employers.

The problem was, carecareers, although supported by an outstanding brand marketing and mainstream media advertising push, fell short when it came to their jobboard technology.

The issue was of carecareers’ own making. When the project was initiated, carecareers wanted to keep open a number of options including potential operation as a full-service recruitment agency. This resulted in investment in a comprehensive Applicant Tracking System with a range of capabilities that carecareers was ultimately unable to exploit. As carecareers developed, its priorities firmed and it became clear that what was needed most was software that enabled carecareers to match the service of the best job sites on the market.

The Solution: JXT
As a result, carecareers engaged JXT to provide a new jobboard platform. Through a complete integration with carecareers’ existing website, including applicant tracking, JXT have introduced best-practice jobboard technology to carecareers.

What does this mean for the community care & disability sector?

– More clients are able to feature roles in the carecareers portal as the process has been vastly simplified

– carecareers can own their jobboard URL (rather than it remaining with the jobboard provider) which means the roles are highly optimised for search engines

– Better SEO also means candidates are able to more effectively find the right jobs for them

– Google recently announced that over 20% of jobseekers use mobile to search for jobs: carecareers can now capitalise on this search behaviour. Previously, the carecareers site wasn’t optimised for mobile

– carecareers’ hiring process is now optimised for social media: another critical environment to capture the attention of existing industry employees, and newcomers to the care & disability industry

– A true industry jobboard has been born: due to the ‘open’ nature of JXT’s jobboard software, the carecareers platform is now available for a broader scope of potential industry employers to advertise roles

The Feedback: carecareers
With the implementation of JXT’s technology, carecareers can see the potential scope for broadening their industry reach to more employers, more candidates.

‘This is an exciting move for the care & disability industry. JXT’s jobboard platform has opened up our services to more employers, more candidates, and more mediums including social media, mobile and search.

Thanks to JXT, we’re able to give candidates a vastly superior hiring experience. This is a true win-win for everyone involved.

We foresee significant, sustained growth of this important service to the care & disability community.’